Calvin “Joonie” Gary, Jr., better known by his stage name ‘Joonie’ is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and self-taught musician, specializing in Soul, R&B and Popular Music. His sound, lyrics and musicianship are often compared to the great R&B vocalists of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s who emoted smooth vocals across infectious rhythms and melodies.

Like many great Soul and R&B artists, Joonie began his vocal career singing and playing instruments, he taught himself to play, in the church. Although Joonie is a brilliant vocalist, and talented musician, initially, he never aspired to be a singer, his focus was on songwriting. He’d write songs, but couldn’t find anyone to sing them the way he envisioned them being heard, so he was forced to sing his own Demos. This effort landed Joonie a deal with a major record label at just 21 years old.

Unable to compromise the integrity of his musicianship and unwilling to abandon his unique artistic style to become a pre-packaged “instant star”, Joonie took an introspective hiatus from the music industry, where at one point; he almost lost his desire to create. For a while, Joonie stayed behind the scenes, writing, arranging, producing or playing instrumentals for other artists including, Ruben Studdard, Nappy Roots, Angie Stone and Mos Def (unreleased), but his talent would once again surface to the forefront. After touring and performing with Elliot Yamin, the audience reactions to Joonie’s performances night after night were overwhelming and undeniable that people wanted to hear more from him.

As Joonie says, each of his songs is like his child. He likes to take his time with each one, nurture it and guide it to maturity until it is ready to be shared. His goal with every song is to create music that actually touches your soul, puts a smile on your face and makes you feel good and your head bob as you listen and sing along.

Joonie’s debut album “Acoustic Love” released as an Independent in 2010 achieved global critical acclaim, garnering radio airplay in the US, sold out performances and charting in the UK, the Netherlands and Japan. “Acoustic Love” was a theme album about genuine love, both real and imagined, where romance exists, women are valued and appreciated, and love lasts. Acoustic Love tells the story pure emotion, with honest vocals, using real musical instruments, all played by Joonie.

His highly anticipated sophomore album, “€ontrast” continues to tell stories about love, but from several different points of view. As the definition of contrast states, it is “the difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture, such as a photograph or video image.” It is “a difference, especially a strong dissimilarity, between entities or objects compared.” €ontrast the other side of the love spectrum; love lost, falling out of love and even the desperate prayer for a sick loved one’s recovery in the song “Love Plea”. As Joonie states, “When adjusting the €ontrast on your TV, iPhone, etc., too far tom the left will be too dark and too far to the right will be too bright but finding that balance. Somewhere in-¬-between will get you a perfect picture. Using this same concept with Love is a given. I believe that in any meaningful relationship there has to be a Healthy balance between the good and the bad. Day In and day out the sun will continually move causing light to shine on us in different ways but adjusting that €ontrast accordingly will only set love up for a perfect picture.